


Drawn to you

by MartyMcFlys



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, background plasma not enough to warrant a relationship tag tho, gay idiots can't confess to each other haha nerds, mention of Cole's dad being shitty because he sucks in canon and i hate him no sympathy for Lou here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:28:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28230168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MartyMcFlys/pseuds/MartyMcFlys
Summary: Soulmate AU where whatever you write on yourself appears on your soulmate as well, Cole thinks he has no soulmate but little does he know...
Relationships: Cole/Zane (Ninjago)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48





	Drawn to you

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! please don't kill me for the title I like to think I'm funny.  
> This is a bit old but, I made it for a gift exchange in one of my ninjago servers Whip City a while back for Kiwibird<3

Cole’s soulmate markings were supposed to start appearing when he turned 10. He had stayed up all night just to wait for them to appear. As the day wound on and nothing ever showed up, he continued to wait but grew more and more frustrated by the lack of a mark. He angrily pulled out a pen and scribbled “hello???” and “where _are_ you?” all over his arms but he never got a reply back. The silence finally collapsed in on him and he just cried, burying his face in a pillow while bitter tears fell.

His mom found him just like that an hour later. One of the few memories he had left of her was from that night when she’d pulled him up and into a hug. He couldn’t even remember her face but he could distinctly remember how safe he had felt. “You know Cole, everything happens-” 

“Don’t say for a reason, that’s so dumb.”

“Oh no, some things don’t have a reason, our lives aren’t defined by what somebody before us planned, the world is too big and too weird for that.” _pretty rich coming from her, she and dad are soulmates_ he thought “But, everything happens, you’ll make your own path Cole. You’ll find people you care about and have a life all your own, not everything is about soulmates.” 

“...I’m still sad though.” he said, which got him another big hug and reassurance.

The day his mother died saving people from a cave-in, her words never felt more true. Everything does happen. And it sucks. He wrote quite a few very harsh words onto himself that night. 

The next few years were a haze since his dad had all but demanded he grow up too fast for his own good. Where before he had just been short but willing to smooth things over _because mom was around to calm him down_ he would sometimes think bitterly, now his dad was distant. The few times they talked anymore it was for his dad to shout at and criticize him. He’d try to write to his soulmate he didn’t have about it, his own blank skin mocking his efforts. When he got shipped off to some performing arts school because his dad decided he should focus on dance, (an activity he’d never been particularly interested in) his soulmate was the first to know. They were the only one privy to the fact every break all he’d ever hear was about how he wasn’t good enough and his plan to escape his life. 

He planned the operation for months, keeping track of every RA’s schedule and how long it took them to rotate between each other. A senior, Marty, would regularly sleep a few minutes into his early morning shift, so from 8:15 to 8:35am the halls were unguarded. One rainy morning Cole gathered up his few worldly possessions, walked down the hall, into an empty dorm room and snuck out a window into the wild.

There wasn’t anywhere in particular he wanted to be once he was free, getting as geographically far away from everything he knew as possible would be fine enough. Something kept drawing him to the mountains so he went there first. Progressively climbing taller and taller mountains, until he met Wu who took him in, in a monastery farther than he’d ever been from his school and hometown and life.

All that led him to right now. Where he was currently staring into the face of the most beautiful man he had ever seen, said man only staring back at him completely bewildered. “Er, Cole? Are you quite alright?”

Cole shook his head “Oh! Uh...yeah! No, I'm great. I’m good.” It didn’t seem the new ninja (Zane, Sensei would tell him later) believed him as the confused look remained but he simply strode into the monastery past Cole without asking further questions. 

He’d for the most part come to terms with having no soulmate years ago but looking into Zane’s eyes almost made him wish Zane was his soulmate. _No, he’s your teammate Cole, you can’t just be thinking things like that_ he scolded himself. Though as time passed and he actually got to know Zane, that thought grew harder and harder to shake. Zane was so...genuine, he didn’t suspect the guy had a mean bone in his body, and it was such a change of pace it only drew Cole to him more. He of course loved to play games and train with Jay and Kai, they were great, but he continued to be drawn to Zane. It was the little things, how his nose scrunched up a little before he’d start to laugh, the way he hummed while washing dishes. It was just unbearably cute. 

Unfortunately it seemed neither of them had been graced with any social skills. One day Zane had asked what he’d been drawing lately and Cole just asked the first question that came to mind. Which unfortunately was “How did you know I draw?” At that Zane inhaled deeply, his eyes darting around the room wildly, then got up and walked out. Hours later he would realize he’d probably been really rude but didn’t manage to find Zane until dinner, after which he was ignored. 

More than once during training he found himself paying more attention to Zane than the course and falling on his face, though Kai eventually got sick of even laughing at that and pulled him aside. Grilling him almost as soon as the door closed.

“Dude what’s your problem?” Cole knew the answer of course but didn’t want to admit it so he stayed silent. Hoping that like many times before Kai would just spin his own wheels and leave him alone willingly “Why have you been so _weird_ lately? I mean, you barely acknowledge us, you don’t talk, you keep fucking up in training, you’re our _leader_ how are you supposed to _lead_ us if you can’t keep it together?!”  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Kai.”  
“Oh bullSHIT you don’t know, everyone knows! We were hoping maybe it was just us not knowing you well but it’s been like eight months and nothing’s different. And don’t say nothing-”  
“Really Kai, it’s nothing I’m just, feeling out of it.” he moved to open the door but then Kai went quiet and said  
“It’s Zane isn’t it?”  
Cole spun back around “I don’t know what you’re talking about and I think you should drop this.”  
“No I’m not going to! Everyone’s noticed you fawning over him and you’re not getting anything done!”   
“Oh you’re one to talk! Are you ever gonna tell Jay?” Kai blanched at the comment but then just got angrier.  
“Oh boo hoo woe is me I’m Cole I’m all sad because I have no soulmate we’re _over it_ dude! You like Zane, there doesn’t have to be destiny stuff involved in everything! Just _tell him_ and stop ruining the team because you can’t handle your own life!”  
“Kai, get out.”  
“No! And another thing, just beca-”  
“I _said_ get out **_now_ ** .” The edge in his voice made it very clear to Kai that Cole was not joking around and he left. As soon as the other ninja was gone Cole’s legs buckled from under him as the weight of his own emotions finally crashed down. _Oh I am so screwed._

_––––_

His actual confession did come. He had thought about it and intended to sit Zane down and tell him. Though his plan didn’t go...exactly the way he meant. Namely because a giant mech piloted by some enemy or other went on a rampage through the city and they had stopped him eventually, but everyone was pretty badly injured. It was only after that battle, where one of Zane’s arms had been pretty badly cut up, that he saw something while Jay was applying bandages. He walked over quietly, “Hey Jay? Can...can I take over?”

The question got him a confused look but a “Sure, be my guest.” as Jay walked over to take care of Kai’s wounds next. When he pulled off the last of Zane’s torn gi sleeve he realized he hasn’t been hallucinating. Right there, on his arm, was the exact doodle Cole had been nervously wokring on that morning, before everything exploded.

“Did you? Do that Zane?”

The nindroid only stared at him quizzically. The same look from when he’d zoned out the day they met. “No...The falling shards of building did, Cole. Were you hit on the head? Should I scan you for a concussion?”

At that he could only laugh, from anyone else it would be an insult “No, no. I was wondering about the drawing. When did that show up on your arm?”

“Oh, well, uh, this...it was this morning.” Zane pulled his arm away and now seemed desperate to find anything interesting to look at other than Cole. Though he really shouldn’t have worried because all Cole could do was laugh. “What...what’s wrong...why are you laughing at me?”

The fear set deep in Zane’s eyes finally made Cole stop. “Oh, my god no. I am not laughing at you. I’m laughing at me. You– I just– all this time? I always wished you were my soulmate and you have been, this whole time.” Then Zane’s eyes widened

“I must admit I, well before I came here I didn’t understand what these marks meant. Until I saw you just, writing a note on your arm. And it appeared on my own. But I had to ask Kai first. Then...once he told me I was so worried you would be unhappy about this...arrangement...and that the team, the friends I had just gotten, would fall apart as a result. So I just, hid it.”

Cole couldn’t help but grin wildly and pull Zane into the tightest hug he could give with his super strength. He felt Zane’s head tilt forward and rest in the crook of his shoulder as he picked the nindroid up off the ground and spun him. Eventually he set the poor guy down and pressed their foreheads together “The day we met. I _wished_ you were my soulmate. I wanted you to be so bad and I was so upset you weren’t. There’s nothing about you I could ever _ever_ be unhappy about Zane. I’m just sorry I ever did anything to make you think I’d hurt you.”

Zane grinned back, wounds forgotten in the adrenaline of the moment. “Well then Cole, would you like to go on a date with me? Soulmate?”

“Yeah I would, soulmate.” Cole replied “Hey by the way. Is that why you always wore long sleeves?”

“...Yes. I didn’t know what to do about the marks.”

“And you never wrote back because you’re too proper to draw on yourself?”

“Maybe.”

“Oh my god” Cole laughed “I can’t believe I’m already so bad at this.”

“Well, I think it’s alright, you have plenty of time to improve.”

Eventually the two got tired of standing on the deck and moved into Cole’s room, chattering all the while.

**Author's Note:**

> I meant to write a second chapter that was their first date but my adhd said "no" so I never did and just decided to dust it off and post it pretend it's there, they go to a theme park that's Totally Not Disney World and they're cute and maybe they even h*ld h*nds or something equally wild idk


End file.
